Modena

The Duchy of Modena and Reggio (1452-1859) was one of the Italian States of northern Italy, involved in the feudal warfare. It was an ally of the Guelphs in the Guelphs and Ghibellines period of 1152-1521 and fought in the Italian Wars, and was a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire during the French Revolutionary Wars Italian Campaign of the 1790s. When Modena fell to the French in April 1797, the Duchy became a part of the Cispadane Republic, only gaining independence in 1814. From then until 1859, it was independent yet a vassal of the Austrian Empire, and in 1859 it was absorbed by the Kingdom of Sardinia in the Reunification of Italy.